'Second skin' packaging trend kicks in with cold foil project

A cold foil from brand enhancement company API has been used to create a new visual identity for SnowFox vodka.

Integrated with the brand essence of the drink from Port Royal Distillers, the API 1000 TA foil depicts the 'piercing gaze' of the iconic Canadian snow fox on its shrink label.

API manufactures and distributes foils, laminates, and holographic materials, and says the shrink label for SnowFox exemplifies the packaging trend 'Second skin' identified in API’s annual trends folio, which describes when the packaging becomes a seamless extension of the product inside.

SnowFox Vodka is a premium vodka drink with a hint of sweetness which, the company says, was inspired by the purity of the Canadian arctic and its native snow fox.

The drink won the Gold Award for Flexible Packaging at the Canadian Print Awards and the Silver Medal at the New York Wine & Spirits Festival.

Applied to the front graphic panel of the shrink label by Spectrol, the over-printable TA cold foil shows a Canadian snow fox in finely detailed close-up, gazing out from above an icy blue labelled area.

It produces a glow-in-the-dark effect, causing the electric-blue eyes of the snow fox to illuminate dramatically in low-lit areas such as nightclubs.

On the lower blue area, the API foil creates a doming effect on the drink’s name, representing the second 'O' in 'Snowfox' as a paw print.

At the Spectrol factory in Ontario, Canada, the foil is printed using a Gallus EM5 10S 20-inch flexographic printing press with 10 colours and a full servo drive (inline).